540s BC

Events and trends

546 BC — Croesus, Lydian king, is defeated by Cyrus of Persia near the River Halys.
546 BC — Cyrus of Persia completes his conquest of Lydia, and makes Pasargadae his capital.
546 BC — Cyrus the Great establishes a garrison in Sardis and incorporates the Greek cities of Ionia in Asia Minor into Persian Empire. Thus he gains the important ports that look out to the Mediterranean world.
544 BC — People of Teos migrate to Abdera, Thrace to escape the yoke of Persia.
544 BC — Zhou Jing Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
543 BC — North Indian Prince Vijaya invades Ceylon and establishes a Sri Lankan dynasty.
543 BC — Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, purifies the island of Delos (approximate date).
543 BC — Guided by the Chinese statesman Zi Chan, the State of Zheng institutes a formal code of law.
c. 543 BC — Buddha dies
540 BC — Cyrus the Great attacked Babylonia.
540 BC — Greek city of Elea of southern Italy founded (approximate date).
540 BC — Persians conquer Lycian city of Xanthos now in southern Turkey (approximate date).
c. 540 BC — Amasis Painter makes Dionysos with maenads, black-figure decoration on an amphora. It is now at Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris.
c. 540 BC — Exekias makes The suicide of Ajax, black-figure decoration on a amphora. It is now at Chateau-Musee, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

549 BC — Birth of Darius I
547 BC — Death of Croesus?
546 BC — Death of Anaximander, Greek philosopher (approximate date)
545 BC — Death of Zhou ling wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China
544 BC — Birth of Sun Tzu
543 BC — Death of Gautama Buddha (traditional in Thailand and elsewhere — basis of the Thai solar calendar)
543 BC — Death of Thales, Greek philosopher
540 BC — Amyntas I becomes king of Macedonia (approximate date)
Amasis Painter, Greek painter
Exekias, Greek painter